Police Captain To Sue City On Civil Rights Violations

August 25, 1992|By STEVEN G. VEGH; Courant Staff Writer

TORRINGTON — A police captain who is planning to sue police Chief Mahlon Sabo and the city contends that Sabo has violated his right to free speech since 1989, when the captain reported that Sabo knew prisoners' telephone calls were being illegally taped by the department.

Capt. Alfred T. Columbia filed a notice of intent to sue with the city clerk Monday. The brief document said that on Nov. 13, 1989, Columbia indicated in an internal investigation questionnaire that he had brought the taping of prisoner telephone lines to Sabo's attention.

From that date through May this year, the notice said, a "continuing course of conduct" by Sabo has violated Columbia's civil rights, including the rights of equal protection under the law and free speech. Sabo's conduct "may continue into the future," the document said.

The document does not detail Sabo's conduct and neither Columbia nor his attorney, Michael A. Merati, could be reached for comment Monday. Torrington Corporation Counsel Albert G. Vasko said he could not comment on pending litigation, and Mayor Delia R. Donne was out of town.

The city earlier this year agreed to a $3.4 million settlement of a federal class action suit that claimed police illegally taped telephone calls made from the police cellblock between 1973 and November 1989. Hundreds of former prisoners will share the sum.

During the litigation, Columbia told the plaintiffs' attorney in August 1990 that Sabo knew of the taping and ordered a coverup just before the activity was revealed.

Sabo has repeatedly denied that he sanctioned the taping after he arrived as chief in 1986.

Columbia was fired by the department several years ago for accepting money from then-Chief Domenic Antonelli, who had sold jewelry held as evidence in a case Columbia had investigated.

He was later rehired with the stipulations that he lose his rank for one year and publicly apologize for the incident -